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"Great companies no longer prosper solely from the efficient production of goods, but also from the ubiquity of their brand names," Frankel said. What's In A Name?

There are lots of things right about the brand name BlackBerry. It starts with the way the two parts of the name, Black and Berry, each have five letters with a repeated B, sound. That creates a sense of quick connection, Frankel says.

Then there's the image that blackberries call up, as in networks of seeds that'll cross even the rockiest of landscapes.

Perhaps the most important part of the name BlackBerry -- and the most useful to businesses and professionals -- is how its creators came up with it, as chronicled by Frankel in "WordCraft."

In 1998, Dave Werezak, then vice-president of marketing for technology firm Research In Motion (RIM), which built the BlackBerry, visited the Sausalito, Calif., offices of Lexicon Branding. Lexicon had named such brands as Pentium, PowerBook and Dasani.

His challenge: Come up with a new name for a nifty little product he called PocketLink.

The little device's technology was top-notch. But RIM was a relatively unknown company. The product's name had to have oomph.

Headed by founder David Placek, the creative people at Lexicon started by asking lots of questions.

"We want to learn everything there is to know about a particular product or service or component before we start naming," Placek said.

Next, Lexicon mixed things up, pulling in groups of independent namers with varied backgrounds -- poets, actors and musicians -- to toss out possible names.

"Good namers have very well-rounded perspectives," Placek said. Outsiders help prevent a phenomenon known as groupthink, Placek says. If the same people are doing all the brainstorming, even the most creative minds will start to bob in unison. That kills innovation.

Placek and his creative team at Lexicon steered namers away from the technical aspects of the gadget, pressing them to hone a moniker broad enough to grow. Lexicon presented Werezak with no fewer than 75 possible names, culled out of hundreds that'd been tossed about.

BlackBerry grabbed Werezak right away, which was a good sign the name would catch on.

RIM also had to promote the name, since BlackBerry, by itself, didn't spell out what the little device did. Ads helped RIM spread the word. BlackBerry devices hit stores in 1999. The following year, it was touted as one of the most powerful new brands on the market.